Public Health Thought Leadership Dialogue: "Driving Singapore's War on Diabetes"

Following the Ministry of Health's declaration on a "war on diabetes" earlier this year, a strategic framework encompassing the domains of primary prevention, early detection and disease management was developed. The proposed action plans and implications of this framework were discussed during the School's Public Health Thought Leadership Dialogue Driving Singapore's War on Diabetes on 14 November 2016.

The discussion chaired by Professor Chia Kee Seng, Dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health included panelists Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, Deputy Director Medical Services at the Ministry of Health, Dr Sue-Anne Toh, Clinical Director of the NUHS Regional Health System Planning and Development Office, and Professor Paul Zimmet, Professor of Diabetes at Monash University.

The first section saw panelists discussing the need for a adopting a 'population-based' or 'high-risk' approach in Singapore's War on Diabetes, as well as benchmarks of measuring success of implementations introduced in the ongoing War. In the section of diabetes screening, the panel then shared their views on measures to reduce the number of undiagnosed diabetics and strengthening the follow-up of screening programmes. Lastly, the discussion tackled the role of family doctors in managing diabetes effectively.

Ending the dialogue on a heartwarming note, Prof Chia called upon Dr Salome Rebello, who presented Prof Zimmet with a personalised graphic recording of his achievements in diabetes research and how the School came to invite Prof Zimmet for the Public Health Thought Leadership Dialogue. Dr Salome Rebello had sought Prof Zimmet's advice and clarification regarding a paper on diabetes prevention and Prof Zimmet had responded to Dr Salome's query, setting off the beginning of Prof Zimmet's connection to the School.